The way i look at problems

The way i look at problems
    as if eye to shadowy eye with widow in veil
disillusions me
    might as well hang grief on a nail
why bother with contrary evidence
    frustrates resolution
there's conversion in a minute
    instant prayer
and visitation by the spirit

the way i look at problems
    screws thread of misery
down tight    down tighter
    in my head
like experience of bewildered schoolboy
    couldn't grasp what valency and periodic law meant
victim of ridicule by chemistry master
    and laughter of class
none of it made sense

weigh the pitfalls of a city intersection
    busy with the traffic of a summer weekend
no time to lose!    honk! honk!
    then c-r-ash! a flattened fender
faces in consternation
    and another accident ...
we ask why?    who did what to whom?
    no clue         accusations fly
a search for motives    circumstantial evidence
    and the blame to hang on some unlucky guy

it's him    he did it!    cries his nemesis
    sitting parrot-wise upon a twisted limb
but blame myself?    why stop there?
    i might as well pin the donkey's tail
on society    my mother    or the bothersome happenstance
    of being alive

no! i won't be stuck with demonized judgments
    of right and wrong
i'm here right now
    head to head with the cocksure vanity of the human mind
losing my sanity
i'm reminded of when i was lost
    on the bluffs of a mountain at dusk
unable to go forward    afraid to go back
    i came on the tracks of a bear
        leapt down the crags
and slid down the rockslides
without any fear
    not bothering to ask whether i should or should not
retrieved from hazard by an inspiring dare

196_, rev. mmvii